Book of Mormon

Fellow Blogger Rochelle Bisson at A Musical Muppet won the Book of Mormon lottery and she kindly took me along to the Prince of Wales Theatre with her. This is the second time I have seen Book of Mormon and this time was from Row A so I got to get up close and personal with the cast.

For those of you that haven’t seen Book of Mormon (is there anyone left out there who hasn’t?) it is not a musical for those easily offended but is hilarious and touching in equal parts. It tells the story of 2 Mormon missionaries, Elder Young and Elder Cunningham who are sent to Uganda to try and spread the word. The village they are sent to however is controlled by a vicious Warlord (General Butt****ing naked) however with some artistic license, Elder Cunningham, the underdog manages to baptize many of the natives, ending with the moral that it doesn’t matter what you believe, so long as you believe in something.

The shows success lies in its balance between utter irreverent mickey taking and it’s brutal honesty which when combined together has the audience laughing and at the same time taking in a more serious underlying message. Often in shows where humour is at the forefront it can lead the music to suffer but the music is brilliantly catchy, so much so that I found myself singing Hasa Diga Eebbowai (highly inappropriate I know) on the train home. I also forgot how funny some of the numbers are. Being very familiar with the sound track ‘Spooky Mormon Hell Dream,’ is often a track that I skip over but I had forgotten how funny it was and is one of those numbers which is 10000% better visually than the song alone. By the end of the number the majority of the audience were howling with laughter.

The cast are all superb. Nic Rouleau suits the overly confident Elder Price and his big numbers “I Believe” and “You & Me (But Mostly Me)” suit him down to a T. Elder Cunningham was played by Brian Sears and had a slightly different take on the role to the originating West End cast member, Jared Gertner. Brian plays the role, at least in the first act before the character begins to mature, as if he has borderline learning disabilities but his boundless energy soon wins you over. One of the highlights for me was Alexia Khadime’s interpretation of Nabulungi. Her vocals are beautiful and she is brilliantly innocent at the same time delivery the double entrendres in ‘Baptize Me,’ perfectly. Stephen Ashfield also deserves a nod as the repressed Elder McKinley whose comic timing is perfect. That being said all of the Mormon Elders are brilliant and really leave an impression.

I enjoyed this show, as much, if not more than my first visit with the original West End cast which speaks volumes for the energy this show has kept going. If you want a fun night where you may leave with your side hurting from laughing too much this is the perfect show.

Book of Mormon Lottery:

As mentioned above I went on a winning lottery ticket. In order to enter the lottery you can enter online from Wednesday for tickets the following week. Click here to enter. Alternatively you can enter the lottery at the theatre from 2.5 hours before each performance. Lottery tickets are £20 and our seats were at the very end of row A. You got a brilliant view of the cast and save for a few moments where a few props or cast blocked sight lines you had a great view.

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My latest review is for J.M.Barrie's Dear Brutus. Whilst most theatres are offering us Peter Pan, Southwark Playhouse offer us a lesser know play of his that tugs on the imagination and gives us food for thought.